Can I just say that this morning was awesome, and I can’t wait to go back tonight. Zoe was thrilled and learned a lot. There is so much truth, science, and good news in the book of Genesis.
Here’s a trailer of a movie that Ben Stein (from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) been a part of. I think it will be very eye opening and I can’t wait to see it.
We’re having a conference starting today at our church from Answers in Genesis! Can you tell I’m excited? Mark stayed home this morning so I could take Zoe to the school conference in the am and then we’ll be going tonight and tomorrow.
Now, for a potty update. Liam has no clue when he goes so I’m just letting him sit on it when he wants to and he goes, etc.
Everyone is sleeping better. Josiah is still waking up at 4 am on the dot and won’t go back to sleep until he snacks (not even ten minutes today) but he sleeps until 6:30 or 7.
I think that’s all the updates. I’ll post more later. Gotta go start some bread.
I might as well start this off as a series and add to it when I’ve done something completely silly.
So, our night went like this…Mark got up with Liam somewhere around 2:30 because he was screaming and crying, inconsolably. When he walked out of the room with him so that Liam wouldn’t wake up Josiah, Josiah woke up. I traded off with Mark and got Liam while he tried to get Josiah to sleep and then he met me in the hallway because Ace was running a fever. So we got drugs for Ace. I got Liam to lay down with me and Mark settled in with Josiah who was now screaming his head off (but not literally, it’s still attached). Liam tossed and turned and fussed and every time I almost drifted off to sleep, he would fuss or say something. This continued until we gave up on Josiah and I tried to nurse him around 5. I got him down and went to lay down while Ace started coughing. Again, trying to keep Josiah from waking up (I mean screaming) anymore, Mark took Ace (Mark decided to go in late to work…4 hours of sleep makes it hard to concentrate) into the living room and I tried to get some sleep with Liam. And I listened to Josiah play for about thirty minutes and then when he fussed, I gave him drugs (he is teething okay) and went back to lay down and finally got about an hour’s sleep after that!
With all that in mind, I decided we’d try our hand at potty training Liam. We’ve been through three training pants and one pair of underwear. The one pair of undies doesn’t count because he was sitting on the potty watching “It’s Potty Time (can you say funny)” and he didn’t realize he was spraying the floor where his undies were. He’s kept his second pair of undies dry but I had to put him in a diaper for nap time…ain’t no way I’m cleaning up my bed because he went while he was sleeping. Zoe and Ace are really encouraging but the main motivator is the candy! He sat on the potty before nap time eyeing the candy jar. We’ll see if we continue with this. I’m wondering if he wets his pants one time he’ll realize what he’s doing. If not, then I probably won’t continue for another month or so. I’m not sure he really has bladder control yet. And I don’t want to spend who knows how many months waiting for him to get it and running around with extra pants, clothes, and towels! “My hands are full” enough right now.
I bet ya’ll are all wondering what we did for Valentine’s day…or maybe not!
As usual, our holiday was no where near usual.
The kids and I had MOPS in the morning. We had a chocolate tasting at the meeting. Yummy fun (except for the dark chocolate…yick).
When we got home, I noticed that Liam was acting funny and wanting me to hold him a lot. I checked his temp and it was up! He had just finished an antibiotic on Monday for a sinus infection. I called my pharmacist/best friend, and she advised me to call the doc. He had also started coughing a good bit the day before and through the night. Dr. B called in another antibiotic that has to go 10 days. (by the way, he’s doing pretty good and not running a fever anymore).
So, when they got up from their nap I loaded everyone in the car and we went to get: medicine, a movie, and pizza.
And, we spent our Valentine’s day watching a movie and eating pizza. Lots of fun! We love doing family stuff for Valentine’s day.
Lest you think that Mark and I did not acknowledge our love for each other with gifts…we did…sort of. I got him his usual, Peanut M&Ms and he got me my usual, Chocolate Turtles (that had amazingly disappeared by Sunday…that took a lot of self-control). He also (which he was not supposed to) got me the itunes of Michael Buble (see below), and a guitar stand to hang my great aunt’s guitar.
Oh, did I mention I got to go to a spa for a manicure and pedicure and I got to get my haircut all on Friday! Ahhh, pampered me. What a great hubby I have!
Love ya Babe!
On myself. Since I post about the silly absentmindedness of our family…I thought I would share what I just did!
We were herding them all into the house after church tonight and Liam was tagging along. I was so certain that he made it in front of me as I carried bags and Mark carried Josiah. I kept hearing a noise but thought the neighbors were doing something so I came on in and closed the door.
Then I thought Liam was in the room with Mark while I got some stuff ready for bedtime, so I didn’t think anything of it…except that it was unusually quiet.
I guess Mark heard him, however, because when I went into get Josiah ready for bed (and Liam, although he wasn’t in the room) he got up and went to the door. There was Liam banging on it with a toy and yelling at us to let him in.
In my defense, it was dark out and I’m pretty tired! In my defense, he should have done what I told him and walked up to the house! This has been a first in our household!
And, while I’m tattling, I’ll tell that Mark almost left Josiah one day when he was taking the troupe to a store.
I love you Babe! Thanks for putting up with me these 11 (almost 12) years! You are a light and such an example of Christ to me and the kids. Thank you for sharing your dreams with me and being patient to entertain mine!
I love you for Everything you are to me…oh, in the video, substitute “man” for “woman”!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Your Bride
I started reading a book by Rex Russell called What the Bible Says about Healthy Living. I highly recommend it. With all that my dad has been through and considering that there is a history of Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and heart problems on both sides of my family, I’ve been convicted about living a healthier lifestyle (no more midnight runs to raid the kitchen kind of change).
I have to say that Mark is a big supporter of my plans. I’m not talking about dieting or cutting out something. Just changing our eating habits. We’ll see how it goes.
Rex Russell’s book is good and built around three principles that I can’t remember at the moment but are based on the Levitical laws…not by means of salvation (that only comes through Jesus) but really based on his examination of why God set forth the food laws to begin with. He really breaks it down in the book to discuss what God said not to eat and using scientific facts to break down the whys. As well as what God told the Jewish people to eat and why that is good for you.
So, that being said, we are on a quest to start a new adventure within this one…and that involves making our own flour. You’ll have to read the book to find out where we got the idea for it. But, my sister-in-law already makes her own flour so she’s been a big help. Besides the health benefits, the costs should come out better for us too. We can buy whole grain wheat for about .50 a pound as opposed to flour in the store (I’ve always bought unbleached…who wants to eat bleach…yuk) for more. I’ll have to post more on our adventure once we get started!
We’ve been looking into buying a 1/2 a cow of beef since last year. We’ve heard from several people that grain fed beef tastes way better and it’s also better for you. However, we just haven’t had the space to freeze it. We should be getting an upright freezer soon and then we’ll be able to buy the cow…when it becomes available.
I’ll post more on our healthy makeover as it develops! Wish us luck. For now, we’re eating more fruits and working on eating more veggies (without having to force Ace to eat them).
A friend told me that one of our family magazines around here was having a Mommy Makeover contest and so, I thought I’d enter it just for fun. The contest ended in January and I have not heard from them, so I’m figuring I didn’t win…oh well…I thought I might as well post my entry below…along with my pictures I sent in. Now keep in mind that the first picture was just for fun, but the second one was seriously the most recent picture of me…in my Christmas pjs…ughhh! Anyway, enjoy!
My name is Abbie and I would so love to have a makeover. I just turned 30 in November. I have four children 5 and under. I have one girl and three rambunctious boys. Zoe is 5, Ace is 3, Liam is 2 and Josiah is 6 months. Aside from caring for my sweet babies, I am also the coordinator for the Mothers of Preschoolers group. I also started homeschooling my daughter this year and run a stationary/card business from my home. In my spare time (hehehe), I try to keep our out of town family up to date via our blog. I also try to scrapbook every precious memory I can capture on film. And when they are really quiet (okay so when they’re asleep, and yes, four asleep at once does happen), I try to stay awake to spend time with my husband or read. Not easy to do at midnight!
In June I brought a 9 pound 6 ounce baby into this world (without an epidural…eleven hours in labor…I’ve earned the right to brag). Unfortunately, he didn’t carry the 40 plus pounds I had put on during the pregnancy(editor’s note…I was being kind saying it was just 40 pounds…but I did add the plus so I wasn’t lying). As a result, my “baby belly” is slowly dwindling with my scrambled trips to the gym. You know, when the kids are well and we rush to the gym between ballet, school, church, and MOPS. Or when my sweet husband comes home and sees that a shower has alluded me and my contacts aren’t in…the kids have created drawings on the walls and my sweet toddler has flooded the kitchen again in an attempt to figure out how the faucet works…that’s when he says, “I’ve got the kids, go to the gym or do something!” Ahhh those are the sweet times! Okay, back to reality (my hubby really does offer lots).
I’m at that “in-between” time with my clothes…my maternity clothes are too big, my regular clothes are too small and I’m too cheap to buy lots of clothes in a size I hope to be out of in a few months. I have the wash and wear hair do that is getting too long but between doctors appointments and other activities, when am I supposed to take two hours out of my schedule to sit at the salon?? Oh, and did I mention that I lost a lot of my hair from pregnancy and now the new hair coming back is gray!! So, I guess it would be four hours at the salon to find a color to match my beautiful all dark brown hair!!! Sure gray is a sign of wisdom, but I think it’s more a sign of losing your mind when you’re as young as I am!
So, to recap, managing a home of six people (two of whom are still in diapers and four under 6), homeschooling, working in a ministry, chauffeuring, being the family historian, and trying to earn a little money on the side, with a few extra trips to the gym…my plate is full and I have very little time to keep up my appearances. I love to look nice for my husband and my family and work with the time I have and the very little budgeted money I have and we end up with the below pictures. Okay, so the first one is really just a silly side but the second is the best I can do on a good day or maybe it’s the other way around.
Okay, Chad from Chad & Chrissy’s blog tagged me. Here are five things no one knows about me and five places I wonat to visit in teh US and five places I want to visit outside the US.
1. My favorite ice cream dessert in the whole world is a Fanta Strawberry float (ice cream and Fanta strawberry soda). My next favorite is the Baskin Robbins Chocolate Blast…oh my, yum yum!
2. I am absolutely obsessed with watching the Duggars (the Arkansas family that has 17 children) specials and Jon & Kate Plus 8 (the ones with the twins and sextuplets). I’ll also re-watch the shows and always learn more things. Like this new recipe: Monkey Munch
3. When Mark and I were first married and he was still in school, we lived in the “ghetto” and our neighbors were transvestites (no kidding). His car was keyed by said transvestites and our apartment was burlarized by someone else.
4. The household activity I hate more than anything is dusting…that’s because my sister made me dust when she always got to vaccum…sorry Erin, the truth is out.
5. Here’s my rant for the month: I’m pretty much very tired of being asked if I’m pregnant, having my baby fat belly rubbed, or being asked if we’re through having kids. Since when is our reproductive life everyone else’s business??? For all interested here and to save from the questions, if we get pregnant now, we will but we are definitely not trying. I would like to get in shape, adopt, and have a little bit more time enjoying the kids God has blessed us with before or if God blesses us with another pregnancy. Oh, and for those that just have to ask the most annoying question of all time, “Yes, we know what causes it…why do you think we have had four children in five years :)”
5 Places in the US I want to visit:
1. Seattle
2. Hawaii
3. New York (just to see a Broadway Musical and not Sweeney Todd)
4. Walt Disney World (with the kids for at least a full week)
5. Alaska
5 Places outside the US I want to visit:
1. Ireland
2. Israel and tour where Jesus walked (stole this from Chad)
3. China
4. Wherever we adopt from
5. Canada and see where Anne of Green Gables was filmed
I tag…hmmm…Shannon, Lisa, Vonda, Carrie, and Jackie!! Have fun!
It’s hard coming up with stuff when I pretty much lay it all out there.
Okay, this is a poop story, so if you need to skip it go ahead!
Ace was using the potty this morning and I was waiting on him to finish so I could brush his teeth. I was working on chores and he called me from the bathroom.
“Mama, come here. I got to tell you somthin'” (While he’s on the potty)
“Yes, Ace.”
“That was some mean poopy.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes ma’am. It was gonna beat me up.”
‘Nuff said.